Friday, November 8, 2013

Judge Williamson of Monroe County Strikes Vague Catch-all Allegations of Negligence from Complaint

In the case of Votta
v. PrimeCare Medical, Inc., PICS Case No. 13-2544 (C.P. Monroe Co. July 11, 2013 Williamson,
J.) Judge David J. Williamson of the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas
sustained a Defendant’s Preliminary Objections to a Plaintiff’s Complaint with
respect to the inclusion of an impermissibly vague “catch-all phrase” of
negligence.In this action, the Plaintiff who sued the
Defendants for allegedly delaying his access to medical treatment while he was incarcerated. The delay in treatment allegedly resulted in a permanent vision deterioration.

The
Plaintiff had included in one of his allegations in the Complaint the phrase, “including but not
limited to” with respect to his averments of medical negligence.Judge Williamson found that the phrase “including but not
limited to” was “exactly the kind of language” that the Pennsylvania Supreme
Court held was impermissibly vague in the case of Connor v. Allegheny Gen. Hosp., 461 A.2d 600 (Pa. 1983).Accordingly, the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas struck
this portion of the Complaint in the Votta
case.Anyone wishing to review a copy of this decision may contact
the Pennsylvania Instant Case Service of the Pennsylvania Law Weekly at
1-800-276-7427 and pay a small fee for a copy.Source:Pennsylvania
Law Weekly “Digest of Recent Opinions (October 1, 2013).

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